Birth Defect Research for Children wants you to join us in raising public awareness about the continuing effects of military service on veterans' children and grandchildren!

There is power in numbers. The more signatures we receive, the more our voices will be heard.

Signing this petition will help thousands of children and grandchildren of veterans who served in Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Camp LeJuene and other areas where toxic exposures may have caused birth defects and/or functional disabilities . Be a supporter and sign the petition on the behalf of ALL veterans!

Petition to Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki

For a Center to provide diagnosis, treatment and research for veterans’ children and grandchildren with structural and/or functional disabilities linked to toxic exposures during military service

1) Collect data through The National Birth Defect
Registry (http://www.birthdefects.org/registry) on the most frequently reported
conditions in the children of military veterans with toxic exposures

2) Veterans or their children would fill out an
application for the child to be part of the Center project. This would involve
verifying reported conditions with medical records.

4) Construct or adapt an existing hospital/clinic to
serve as the proposed Center. The
location should be central to make it easier for more families to access.

5) Alternatively, create a Virtual Center where
currently funded research at different universities could be adapted for the
Center’s purpose and all data would be integrated at a central office in, for
example, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

7) Medical specialists would select a sample of
veterans’ children with representative problems to start the Center project.

8) Provide free travel vouchers for one or both parents
and the child to visit the center.

9) Provide room, food, and transportation vouchers
during the stay.

10) The child or children will be evaluated by the
team. A report with diagnosis and
treatment recommendations will be provided to the child’s primary physician in
their home town.

11) Periodic reports will be sent from the child’s
physician (at home) to the Center and (video) conferences held if needed. Physician’s time and fees would be funded by
the legislation. Note: This is, in reality, a savings in that
diagnoses and treatment (now) is cheaper than care and treatment for more
serious conditions that could develop later in life.

12) Child will return to the Center annually or more
often until his/her condition is stabilized.

13) Researchers and physicians participating in the
Center will collect data for studies to be published. This will expand the Center’s experience to
the scientific community as a whole.

14) Conflict of interest by colleges and universities as
well as participating medical staff should be considered when
designing/planning the Center and staffing requirements. The goal is for the Center to be autonomous,
independent, and objective.